Deputy PM orders faster payment of compensation

People in the central provinces receive compensation for the mass fish deaths (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh has asked four
central provinces to speed up disbursement of compensation for mass fish deaths
earlier in April so as to complete the first payment phase before the Tet (Lunar
New Year) Festival.

In
a document issued by the Government Office following a meeting of the steering
committee set up to deal with the incident, the Deputy PM also instructed the
People’s Committees of the four provinces to work with Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Development and Ministry of Finance to submit compensation proposals
for those not included in the original list of recipients.

Under
a September 29 decision, the original list of individuals and businesses
eligible for assistance included fishermen, owners of fishing boats and their
employees, owners of and workers at seafood cold storage facilities, fish sauce
and shrimp paste makers, and fish and shrimp farms. The list was expanded later
to include seafood processors, service providers in coastal areas, seafood
traders and others.

The
Deputy PM also asked the Ministry of Health to work with relevant agencies to
assess the quality of seafood caught within 20 nautical miles of the four
provinces’ seabed and submit the results to the Prime Minister.

He
said provincial authorities should sort out their seafood inventories into what
can and cannot be used when proposing compensation solutions to a working group
led by the Ministry of Industry and Trade that will verify the results.

He
also underscored the need to increase communication in seeking public consensus
on the government’s compensation efforts as well as supervision of Formosa
Corporation’s production processes.

The
first phase of compensation disbursement to people suffering from the mass fish
deaths began late October and Quang Tri province was the first to complete it
by the end of November.

The
province disbursed over 202 billion VND (8.9 million USD) from the Government
Budget to owners of fishing boats and their employees.

Most
of the compensation recipients in the province said they would use the money to
buy fishing tools and invest in expanding farming and animal husbandry to
revive production and restore normal lives.

The
compensation for the affected will be calculated from April to September 2016,
with funds sourced from the 500 million USD compensation paid by Formosa.

The
mass fish deaths were first reported on April 6 when a large number of fish
washed ashore in Ha Tinh province. It soon spread to Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and
Thua Thien-Hue provinces.

About
70 tonnes of dead fish were found in the four central provinces, with Thua
Thien-Hue province alone reporting the deaths of 35 tonnes of farm-raised fish.

The
spill also affected the lives of over 260,000 people who depend on the sea for
a living.-VNA